More at dailyxtra.com facebook.com/dailyxtra @dailyxtra #560 FEB 12–25, 2015 FREE CIRCULATION AUDITED 20,000 $20 is all it takes to start saving for our retirement. Whether it’s $20 a week, $20 a day or even $20 a pay, it’s easy to start saving. $20 can get you a car wash. Or some snacks at the movies. It can also start to make your retirement dreams come true. That’s the beauty of saving with TD. With just $20 a week, $20 a day or even $20 a pay, you’ll start to see your retirement savings grow. $20 isn’t a lot. But at TD, it can be the start of something big. Visit a branch or TDStartSaving.com ® The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. 2 FEB 12–25, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Doctor denies lesbians sperm Preview Issue, July 30, 1993 BIGGER PRESENCE. STRONGER VOICE. Breaking news. More impact. Global outlook. Local action. Join us @DailyXtra.com PREVIEW OF DAILY XTRA MOBILE (LAUNCHING SOON) (LAUNCHING MOBILE XTRA PREVIEW OF DAILY Book seizures an international embarrassment Issue 21, June 3, 1994 XTRA! FEB 12–25, 2015 3 4 FEB 12–25, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES AIDS memorial proposed Issue 51, July 27, 1995 XTRA VANCOUVER’S Published by Pink Triangle Press GAY & LESBIAN NEWS PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ROSANNE JOHNSON Brandon Matheson #560 FEB 12–25, 2015 Roundup EDITORIAL Counselling Service MANAGING EDITOR Robin Perelle STAFF REPORTER Natasha Barsotti COPY EDITOR Lesley Fraser “Committed to enhancing the lives EVENT LISTINGS [email protected] and relationships of LGBTQ individuals” CONTRIBUTE OR INQUIRE about Xtra’s editorial BELLE ANCELL content: [email protected] EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE [email protected] | (604) 319-2345 Hannah Ackeral, belle ancell, David P Ball, Niko Bell, Nathaniel Christopher, Adam WWW.ROSANNEJOHNSON.COM Coish, Tom Coleman, Tyler Dorchester, Evan Eisenstadt, David Ellingsen, Jeremy Hainsworth, Chris Howey, John Inch, Pat Johnson, Joshua McVeity, Jake Peters, Raziel Reid, Pega Ren, Janet Rerecich If you can flip your partner... COMMUNITY ART & PRODUCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lucinda Wallace shouldn’t you be able to flip your mattress? DESIGNERS Darryl Mabey, Landon Whittaker ADVERTISING Padded on both sides. ADVERTISING & SALES DIRECTOR Ken Hickling This means you can FLIP your mattress. SALES ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Lexi Chuba Two sides, twice the life. SALES TEAM LEAD Lorilynn Barker DISPLAY ADVERTISING Corey Giles 1315 Venables St. NO EST. ONLINE ACCOUNT MANAGER Jessie Bennett FLIP 1964 ADVERTISING COORDINATORS 604.255.2113 | mrmattress.ca A+ Rating Since 1975 JUST SAY NO Brad Deep, Gary Major Picture perfect DISPLAY ADVERTISING Call 604-684-9696 Sensible Prices Friendly Service Zero Pressure or email [email protected]. CLASSIFIEDS Call 604-684-9696 A special tribute to the community or email classifi [email protected]. SPONSORSHIP & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: we’ve chronicled in these pages Kero Saleib, [email protected] (and will continue to chronicle online) The publication of an ad in Xtra does not Get mean that Xtra endorses the advertiser. FRESH Storefront features are paid advertising content. E20 Action features are advertising intended to advance community involvement and at political action. Nesters Printed and published in Canada. ©2015 Pink Triangle Press. Xtra is published every two weeks by Pink Triangle Press. ISSN 1198-0613 Address: 501–1033 Davie St, Vancouver, BC, V6E 1M7 Offi ce hours: Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Right in the Heart of Your Community Editorial Former trustees expelled for Phone: 604-684-9696 Fax: 604-684-9697 Website: dailyxtra.com Great Selection U Great Prices U Quality Products Xtra’s digital breaching party guidelines, Email: [email protected] Convenient Locations Friendly Staff universe is expanding says NPA E12 UÊ E PINK TRIANGLE PRESS By David Walberg 6 Seniors worry about aging Founded 1971 Xcetera E 7 without support Researchers DIRECTORS Jim Bartley, Gerald Hannon, Glenn Kauth, Didier Pomerleau, Ken Popert, launch LGBT End-of-Life Gillian Rodgerson Resource Inventory E14 HONORARY DIRECTOR Colin Brownlee Upfront PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ken Popert Kamloops addresses CEO, DIGITAL MEDIA David Walberg CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Andrew Chang Derailed by gaybashing, homophobia Of BC’s 60 school Ritchie Dowrey dies Well-loved districts, 32 now have policies on Yaletown 990 Seymour St. Vancouver E Fountainhead regular never homophobia 14 Monday - Friday 7am - 10pm, Weekends 8am - 10pm regained his independence E9 Why Xtra is moving entirely Nova Scotia law society can’t online Squirt, our YouTube bar TWU grads, judge rules channel and the new epicentre E University’s covenant “may be of activism 16 off ensive to many, but it is not Refreshing the page unlawful” E 10 Daily Xtra gets a makeover, E NPA denies portraying Denike launches new mobile site 18 and Woo as ‘homophobes’ Out in the City ondailyxtra.com Sponsoring connection Xtra pilots new sponsorship Farewell to Xtra Vancouver News E CBC to staff : ‘Stay away’ program to support community from John Baird rumours groups E29 Thanks for over 20 years of telling E Wade MacLauchlan Blitz & Shitz set to become PEI’s fi rst Beyond the Blitz our stories in the community! gay premier By Raziel Reid E 30 E Istanbul court fi nes What’s On E32 bathhouse for rejecting The Brotherhood trans woman By Tyler Dorchester E41 E Video: Funny gay women 1033 Davie St. 604-251-4356 | [email protected] take over YouTube COVER PHOTO BY ADAM COISH Canadian Human Rights Act amended Issue 72, May 16, 1996 XTRA! FEB 12–25, 2015 5 email [email protected] comment dailyxtra.com & facebook.com/dailyxtra Comment tweet @dailyxtra Xtra’s digital universe is expanding EDITORIAL ous countries, as our past video productions have DAVID been. And then you’ll see it on our own channels WALBERG on Daily Xtra, YouTube and Vimeo. Our multichannel approach to video provides a model for expansion that we will extend to our journalism in other media — text stories, photos, David Walberg: Just a brief note to audio, graphics — as we seek to broaden our reach. let you know how much I appreciated Pink Triangle Press has a unique mission and you printing my letter. I was so thrilled editorial voice. For more than four decades, we I wanted to rush over and do your hair. have solidly championed sexual freedom and — letter from playwright and author freedom of expression. We hunger not for an equal Tomson Highway, Aug 31, 1997 slice of a stale heterosexual pie, but for a heaping portion of sexual liberation, made to order from scratch. Who doesn’t love receiving a letter? Or the prom- Along the way, we have challenged conventional ise of a new hairdo, for that matter? wisdom. I once received a letter from a Catholic priest When queer activists fought for hate speech in Saskatchewan. There was no local café or bar legislation, author and journalist Irshad Manji where he could collect his Xtra, so he had taken the questioned in Xtra whether such laws were a form bold step of purchasing a subscription. In those of thought policing. days, Xtra was mailed in plain brown envelopes, When gay couples started taking their vows, our discreet as the kinkiest porn, because in some former board member Brenda Cossman advocated musty corners of Canada, a mere interest in gay for revolutionary relationship recognition not Xtra news might destroy one’s life. celebrates its 200th issue back in 1992, with David Walberg standing on the right. JAKE PETERS exclusive to couples who fuck. The priest expressed gratitude for the lifeline Whether practical or provocative, these posi- Xtra presented. A few weeks later, I received an- tions have sparked debate and expanded our other letter, this one from a bishop ordering me to thinking around key issues of the day. These cancel the priest’s subscription. We continued to We hunger not for an equal slice of a stale unique perspectives have saved us from aspiring mail the brown envelopes and were saddened when heterosexual pie, but for a heaping portion of to mediocrity in favour of creating communities they came back to us marked return-to-sender, hav- that best suit our fabulous realities. ing being intercepted by the Catholic Stasi. sexual liberation, made to order from scratch. Over the years, we’ve also distinguished our- Gay news was hard to come by in those days. selves by tackling our not-so-fabulous realities, Connecting to a community was even harder. already publish signifi cantly more local journalism queer people around the world, and we are inspired including drug abuse, HIV transmission and com- Writing letters to the editor was a way even those on Daily Xtra than we did in the Xtra print editions. to support these struggles. munity infi ghting, or as Sharon Tate says in the in the closet or the boondocks could make contact At the same time, we look to the wider world. It’s noteworthy many of these stories are break- fi lm Valley of the Dolls, why “fags can be so bitchy.” and participate. Last fall, during the Toronto International Film ing on video. We are one of the only consistent For our communities to be strong, we believe we Missives took the form of angry screeds (these Festival, the producers of a queer fi lm from Kenya producers of queer video journalism in the world. need to speak candidly about hard issues, especial- have proliferated, sadly, as trolls highjack the visited our offices. Fearing reprisals, they had Our videos are gaining in popularity across numer- ly as some media prefer to present a whitewashed comments sections of websites everywhere) but submitted the fi lm to TIFF anonymously, and we ous platforms.